Cracks
by TheHolderOfTheStory
Summary: After a visit to the nurse, Dawn and Paul start to see sides of each other they never thought existed. They learn that each both of them are hurting, and they both are broken in ways very few people could ever ey learn that they just might be what the other person needs to fill the cracks. Im absolutely horrid at descriptions. sorry.


_**This fic was inspired by a picture i was on tumblr, of Dawn and Paul breaking away at the fake people they each pretended to be, after they saw that they both had the same cracks. Idk it really spoke to me and ill try to do it justice. I dont own pokemon, sadly. If i did Dawn and Paul would have had babies already -sigh- well enjoy the story. Please review or pm me with any questions or comments.**_

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><p>Dawn sat in her room after readying herself for school in the morning, holding a picture in her hand. Glancing down at the picture she smiled, it was a photo of her, her father and her mother before her father had fallen ill. Stroking the face of her father in the photo, Dawn sighed. Elsewhere in the house she heard a door slam, startling her, she dropped the picture in its frame on the floor. Dawn looked down at it, frowning as she saw that a crack ran along the length of the glass, dividing half of Dawn's face in the picture. She picked it up and ran her finger along the crack and let herself get lost in thought once more. Cracks are something Dawn could never really accept. Cracks meant it was breaking, right? So it needed to be fixed. Cracks meant imperfections, and that was something Dawn could not tolerate. Just as her mother had done, Dawn strived for perfection. Johanna was a well-known and widely popular designer in her time, while she still retained some of her popularity in the current day, she focused more on giving her daughter every opportunity she didn't have when she was younger. But that meant Dawn had to be compliant with every one of her mothers choices for Dawn's life. Dawn was okay with that, though, really she was. She loved sitting with her mother each afternoon and going through a magazine to keep up to date on the latest fashion. She loved the hours she spent with her mother designing their newest blouse, or skirt, or what ever her mother decided Dawn was to create that week. It was wonderful spending time with her mother.<p>

Dawn had always been a very social girl, her best friend Ursala, whom she met through her mother, was one of the more popular girls in their high school, so by extention, so was Dawn along with Iris. Ursala was a rather stuck up girl, not to say she didn't have her moments where she was a good friend to Dawn or Iris, but they were fleeting and few. Iris, while she came off as quiet and soft-spoken was a rowdy and loud girl when provoked, much like Dawn herself. The three girls had been friends as long as any of them could remember. They didnt exactly choose to be friends, more so that their mother were quite close so they were always around one and other, and they just simply grew comfortable with it.

A honk brought Dawn out of her thoughts, and startled her once more, as the noise shocked her, she sliced her finger open on the crack in the glass. Pulling back quickly, Dawn cursed under her breath.

"Fuck." She mumbled, putting her finger in her mouth to get rid of the blood.

"Dawn, Ursala and Iris are here. Time for school. You don't want to be late, now do you?" Her mother called from the bottom of the staircase. Sighing, Dawn put the picture frame on her nightstand and made a mental note to pick up another one after school. She called down to her mother as she picked up her light blue backpack.

"I'm coming. I wont be late, no need to worry." As Dawn skipped down the steps she smiled to her mother who returned her smile with a tight-lipped one of her own.

"Alright, Dawn. Have a nice day." Johanna leant down to kiss her daughter's cheek as they bid each other a good day.

"You too, Ill see you after school." At her mothers affirmative nod, Dawn rushed out the door to keep Ursala from waiting any longer. Opening the passenger side door or the bright pink car, Dawn greeted her two closest friends. "Hey, whats up?"

"Nothing, besides you being late. Again." Ursala sighed, giving Dawn a sideways look, as she did every morning.

"Sorry, Ursala. It wont happen again." Dawn responded robotically. Iris waved to Dawn shyly, which Dawn returned. The ride to school was a boring one, full of idle chit-chat, and shallow conversation between the three girls. Dawn's day was as dull and lifeless as usual.

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><p>Paul growled at his alarm clock, which hadent woken him up once again. Glancing at the time he scowled, he only had minutes to get ready before he wouldn't have time to catch his ride to school. He quickly through on a new t-shirt, a simple black shirt with his usual deep blue zipper up sweatshirt in his arm. Running a brush threw his hair Paul grabbed an energy bar from the pantry in the hall as he left his room to wait outside for his ride. As he was about to open the door, his father came barreling out of the room next to his bedroom.<p>

"Why are you so late, Paul?" Came the gruff voice of his father.

"My alarm clock didn't go off." Paul mumbled in reply.

"Again?" His father snarled, not pleased with the explanation. His father stepped between Paul and the door. Paul tensed as he noticed the position he found himself in, looking up to meet his fathers eyes he nodded. "This is getting fucking ridiculous, Paul. Cut this fucking shit and just wake up on time, Alright?"

Paul nodded and tried to step past his father to open the door, but his father intercepted. "Where the hell are you going? I'm fucking talking to you. Learn some respect. Why can't you be more like your brother? Go get me a cup of coffee." Grinding his teeth, Paul shook his head.

"I can't, I have to get to school." Paul said calmly, even though he was growing slightly irritated. His response enraged his father, who shoved Paul backwards away from the door, further into the house.

"Who do you think you're talking to? I'm your father and you will do as I say. I fucking tell you to sit, and you sit. Understand?" Paul stumbled back from the force of his father's shove, falling into a vase, which shattered under his weight and sliced his arm open. Paul just nodded as he stood from the ground and slipped out the door to the waiting car outside, with only a fleeting glance at the picture on the wall that was cracked when he was pushed. I was of his family a year or two earlier, back when things were better. Paul opened the door of the car and slid in. Pulling on his sweatshirt, he nodded to the green haired driver of the gray car.

"Hey, Paul. How you doing?" Drew greeted. Paul didnt respond to the boy, he just simply sat and waited for his friend to drive. The door of the house opening, cause Paul to look up and tense as he saw his father looking as if he was going to some out of the house. Drew noticed and quickly put the car into drive, and pulled away from the small house. A comfortable silence over took the two, until Drew broke it by once again addressing the purple haired teen. "Your arm..." He quietly said.

"What?" Paul questioned looking first at Drew and then at his arm, noticing that is sweatshirt was turning a purplish color in a thick line. "Shit." grumbling Paul looked away from his friend in embarrassment.

"Paul... You can't keep li-" Drew was cut short by the cold look Paul threw his way. "Fine... Just go to the damn nurse this time, okay?"

"And tell them what, exactly?" Was Paul's snide reply.

"That you fell before school and need a bandage. Just go, okay?" Drew sighed to his friend. Paul nodded as they pulled into the school parking lot and he stepped out of the car and quickly made his way to the nurse, not noticing the look of concern the green haired boy wore on his face.

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><p>As the group of girls pulled into school, Dawn glanced down at her finger and saw how deep the cut was, and she sighed, turning to her friends. "I have to go to the nurse really quick, ill see you guys later, okay?" At Ursala's nod Dawn quickly walked off in the other direction, happy to be free of the two girls. Dawn took out her phone to fiddle with as she walked to the nurse, she saw that she had no new messages, and smiled sadly, and decided to go on her favorite website, to check on her account. She quickly typed in the web address. " dot C O M" she mumbled to herself as she typed. She saw that a few of her stories had gained a few reviews since she had last been on. This brought a genuine smile to her face as she put her phone away and opened the door to the school nurse. Walking in, she caught the tail end of a conversation between a student and one of the nurses.<p>

"...I fell, I just need it cleaned up, okay?" Said a deep voice. Dawn looked for the owner of the rough voice and saw a boy she recognized from a few of her classes. His name escaped her at the moment, but she knew for sure he was in her first period class.

"well its a pretty deep gash, Paul. It might need stitches..." The nurse trailed off, as she dabbed at the cut.

"It doesn't need stitches. I just need a bandage so I can go to class." He growled, obviously losing his patience. The nurse shook her head at the boy, before handing his a large bandage for his arm. She looked to Dawn, who she seemed to have just noticed.

"Can I help you?" Dawn nodded in response and replied that she needed a bandage for her finger, the nurse pointed to where the bandages are kept and left Dawn to tend to it. Dawn and Paul finished applying their bandages at the same time and walked out of the nurse.

"You're Paul, right?" Dawn asked happily, trying to talk to the boy. He looked at her and then began walking to his first period class. "I'm Dawn." She tried again.

"I know. I'm in three of your classes." Paul sighed, irritated. Dawn was beginning to think that was his usual temperament.

"I know," Dawn chirped "I just never knew your name, so I thought I would introduce myself" Smiling at the mauve haired teen Dawn expectantly waited for his reply.

"...Okay..?" He responded, not at all interested. They reached their classroom and looked at each other. Paul quickly turned away and strided into the classroom and took his seat in the back, while Dawn took her seat in the front, a bit saddened. She didn't understand why Paul didn't want to talk to her. Had she said something to upset him? She must have, or he wouldn't have been so cold to her surely. She spent most of the class lost in thought, trying to figure out what she had said to the boy that was unkind. By the end of the class, Dawn decided that she was going to apologize to him, even though she was at a loss for what she had done.

When the class ended, Dawn tried to talk to Paul, but he quickly left the room. The day went along much like that. Dawn quickly found herself waiting for the classes she knew she would share with Paul, and even though she couldn't find a opertunity to speak with him, she found herself noticing him far more than she ever had. In her third period history class, Dawn perked up when she heard his gruff, quiet voice speak up from behind her to answer a question.

"Very good, Paul." The teacher praised, as he wrote the answer on the board.

Lunch passed by in a dull blur for Dawn, while she quietly listened to Ursala and Iris chat about one thing or another. By the end of the day, Dawn was completely exhausted. Dawn walked into her last period, English, her favorite subject, with a genuine smile spreading across her face. sitting down and pulling out her light blue notebook, Dawn looked at the board to see what was going to happen in class that day. The bell rang, signaling the start of class, and the door opened and three students rushed in. A girl with short red hair, tied to the side in a pony tail, along with a boy with striking green hair, styled ever so carefully, and Paul. The teacher glanced at them but turned to address the class as they quietly sat in their seats.

"Alright class, I'm guessing most of you have read the board, but if you haven't," She gave a pointed look to the three late students. "I am going to be assigning you a project. You will be working in groups of two, to be creating a poem about your partner. All that is required is that your poems share a title. I am going to be assigning partners myself," A collective groan "So sit and wait until i tell you who you will be sitting with for the duration of the project."

Dawn looked around, trying to figure out who she would be working with, when she heard her name called out. "Dawn Hikari, and Paul Shinji" Her head snapped to the Purple haired boy, who's head came crashing down on his desk.

"Why me?" She heard him mumble. Dawn pouted.

"You're no walk in the park yourself, Jerk." Dawn grumbled. Paul's head shot up, and he looked at her shocked for a second, before a small smirk flashed over his face, then it was back to his displeased scowl.

"What ever" He sighed. Paul picked up his notebook and back pack and moved into the chair next to Dawn. "What day am I coming over to do this shit?" He asked, irritably.

"W-what?" Dawn asked, shocked.

"The project...?" Paul asked, obviously questioning her mental stability. "We have to work on it some time, and if you think you're coming to my house, you're stupider than I thought."

Glaring at the boy, Dawn took a calming breath to control her temper. "Any day works for me. How about Tuesday after school? You can ride home with me." Dawn offered.

"Fine." Paul agreed, turning away from her to start writing in his notebook. Dawn glanced at the paper, and saw her name with a few word written underneath it. 'Annoying' 'Stupid' Ditzy' and "Troublesome" were there.

This was going to be a long few weeks, Dawn thought.

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><p><strong><em>Well that was chapter one... yerp... so uh yeah review or pm me with any comments, good or bad.<em>**


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